10 Reasons Why the Spirit Awards Are Better Than The Oscars

When it comes to honoring the year in film, you can keep your Oscars with their stuffy ceremony and fussy nominees. Who honestly wants to sit through the former sixth lead of Growing Pains (we remember where you came from, Leo) acting like he’s just won the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting a CGI bear? It’s all so important over there. Meanwhile, at the Spirit Awards, everyone is drunk. Now that’s a party! Here are just a few of the reasons the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards, airing this Saturday, Feb. 27th, live at 5P ET/2P PT, consistently takes the cake for most fun awards show of the season. (Click here to find IFC on your TV in your area. You can also stream the show live on IFC.com through your cable provider.)

10. There’s booze, and lots of it.

The drinks flow at the Spirit Awards, keeping the vibe loose. You can’t be that pretentious when you have trouble standing to accept your award. Just ask screenwriter Derek Connolly, who famously refused to leave the stage while accepting the Best First Screenplay Award in 2013 for Safety Not Guaranteed. Thankfully, a quick thinking Bryan Cranston, still sporting his magnificent bald dome, acted as an impromptu bartender and lured the slurry screenwriter off the stage with the promise of more booze.

9. It has the best hosts.

While Chris Rock should bring some edge to this year’s Oscars ceremony, the Academy has a tendency to pick safe hosts like Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris and Billy Crystal. But the Spirit Awards relish in proving they don’t give a damn. Their M.O. seems to be picking people who are currently killing it in the comedy game. Patton Oswalt, Fred Armisen, and Sarah Silverman have all taken their turn offending the room. Just look at this year’s hosts, Kumail Nanjiani and soon-to-be Ghostbuster Kate McKinnon, to get an idea of how the ISAs picks comedy chops over star power. If you know how to make fun of filmmakers for being cheap and egotistical, you’ve got a home at the Spirit Awards.

8. As a result, it’s, um, actually funny.

While the forced banter at the Oscars can often feel like recycled jokes from previous ceremonies, the Spirit Awards stands out for actually being funny. Whether it’s Joel McHale having an In Memoriam for the celebrities that will probably die next year, or Fred Armisen getting slapped by Miles Teller for not making enough Portlandia, the Spirit Awards view the comedy bits as more than just filler.

7. It’s also very filthy.

It’s no shocker when you have Sarah Silverman or Seth Rogen host your show, the censors are going to have a few conniption fits. The amazing thing about the Spirit Awards is that it feels like there are no rules. F bombs drop. Filth rains supreme. This isn’t a show for your grandparents, unless they swear like sailors and like movies starring Michael Shannon.

6. Sometimes it rocks!

While the Oscars trot out Rob Lowe singing to fairy princesses and explain film editing through The Lord of the Dance, when the Spirit Awards want some music, they set the Mother F*#%in’ place on fire. After a documentary about the heavy metal band Anvil broke big in 2008, they had the group tear the roof, er, tent off of the Spirit Awards. If you want your face to remain unmelted, then maybe this isn’t the show for you.

5. It has whatever this is…

When you have a show with no rules, then anything can happen. So when you give out free booze, and then give an award to Mickey Rourke, well…just watch. (Obviously, NSFW. Seriously)

4. Bill Murray actually wins.

How can the Oscars claim to honor the best in film, and yet Bill Murray has never won a single award? Bill Murray! He improvised the Dalai Lama monologue in Caddyshack! He’s a Ghostbuster! Thankfully, the Spirit Awards made up for this gross miscarriage of justice in 2004 by awarding him the Best Male Lead statue for his role in Lost in Translation. Now that’s probably a day Bill wouldn’t mind living over and over again.

3. It actually honors independent cinema.

Film Independent

We all love big movies, but what makes the Spirit Awards stand out is their focus on independence. The majority of the films nominated were made because the filmmakers believed in them, not because they were hoping to get rich, or even chase an award. These are labors of love, made by artists who spent years fighting to realize them. And because of that, there are a dizzying array of styles, stories and scales. Movie star power and big budgets can win you gold statues, but to take home a Spirit Award you need to do something truly special.

2. The nominees are diverse.

With #OscarsSoWhite the talk of this year’s awards season, it’s refreshing to see a crop of diverse nominees vying for Spirit Awards. From acting nods for everyone from Koudous Seihon and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, to Best Feature nominees like Tangerine and Beasts of No Nation, this year’s Spirit Awards reflect the world we all live in and give the Oscars something to strive towards.

1. Did we mention there’s booze?

Celebrities — They’re just like us when they’re drunk. Very, very funny.

Videos

Make The Holidays ’80s Again

Enjoy the holiday cheer Wednesday December 21 at 10P on IFC.

Posted by Ben Cochran on November 30thPhoto Credit: Everett Collection

Whatever happened to the kind of crazy-yet-cozy holiday specials that blanketed the early winter airwaves of the 1980s? Unceremoniously killed by infectious ’90s jadedness? Slow fade out at the hands of early-onset millennial ennui? Whatever the reason, nixing the tradition was a huge mistake.

A huge mistake that we’re about to fix.

Announcing IFC’s Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special, starring Tony Hale. It’s a celeb-studded extravaganza in the glorious tradition of yesteryear featuring Bridget Everett, Jo Firestone, Nick Thune, Jen Kirkman, house band The Dap-Kings, and many more. And it’s at Joe’s Pub, everyone’s favorite home away from home in the Big Apple.

The yuletide cheer explodes Wednesday December 21 at 10P. But if you were born after 1989 and have no idea what void this spectacular special is going to fill, sample from this vintage selection of holiday hits:

Andy Williams and The NBC Kids Search For Santa

The quintessential holiday special. Get snuggly and turn off your brain. You won’t need it.

A Muppet Family Christmas

The Fraggles. The Muppets. The Sesame Street gang. Fate. The Jim Henson multiverse merges in this warm and fuzzy Holiday gathering.

Julie Andrews: The Sound Of Christmas

To this day a foolproof antidote to holiday cynicism. It’s cheesy, but a good cheese. In this case an Alpine Gruyère.

Star Wars Holiday Special

Okay, busted. This one was released in 1978. Still totally ’80s though. And yes that’s Bea Arthur.

Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special

Pass the eggnog, and make sure it’s loaded. This special is everything you’d expect it to be and much, much more.

Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special premieres Wednesday December 21 at 10P on IFC.

A Guide to Coping with the End of Comedy Bang! Bang!

After five seasons and 110 halved-hour episodes, Scott Aukerman’s hipster comedy opus, Comedy Bang! Bang!, has come to an end. Fridays at 11 and 11:30P will never be the same. We know it can be hard for fans to adjust after the series finale of their favorite TV show. That’s why we’ve prepared this step-by-step guide to managing your grief.

Step One: Cry it out

It’s just natural. We’re sad too.

Step Two: Read the CB!B! IMDB Trivia Page

The show is over and it feels like you’ve lost a friend. But how well did you really know this friend? Head over to Comedy Bang! Bang!’s IMDB page to find out some things you may not have known…like that it’s “based on a Civil War battle of the same name” or that “Reggie Watts was actually born with the name Theodore Leopold The Third.”

Step Three: Listen to the podcast

One fascinating piece of CB!B! trivia that you might not learn from IMDB is that there’s a podcast that shares the same name as the TV show. It’s even hosted by Scott Aukerman! It’s not exactly like watching the TV show on a Friday night, but that’s only because each episode is released Monday morning. If you close your eyes, the podcast is just like watching the show with your eyes closed!

Step Four: Watch brand new CB!B! clips?!

The best way to cope with the end of Comedy Bang! Bang! is to completely ignore that it’s over — because it’s not. In an unprecedented move, IFC is opening up the bonus CB!B! content vault. There are four brand new, never-before-seen sketches featuring Scott Aukerman, Kid Cudi, and “Weird Al” Yankovic ready for you to view on the IFC App. There’s also one right here, below this paragraph! Watch all four b-b-bonus clips and feel better.

Binge the entire final season, plus exclusive sketches, right now on the IFC app.

Videos

The Four-Day Sweatsgiving Weekend On IFC

This long holiday weekend is your time to gobble gobble gobble and give heartfelt thanks—thanks for the comfort and forgiveness of sweatpants. Because when it comes right down to it, there’s nothing more wholesome and American than stuffing yourself stupid and spending endless hours in front of the TV in your softest of softests.

So get the sweats, grab the remote and join IFC for four perfect days of entertainment.

It all starts with a 24-hour T-day marathon of Rocky Horror Picture Show, then continues Friday with an all-day binge of Stan Against Evil.

By Saturday, the couch will have molded to your shape. Which is good, because you’ll be nestled in for back-to-back Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

Finally, come Sunday it’s time to put the sweat back in your sweatpants with The Shining, The Exorcist, The Chronicles of Riddick, Terminator 2, and Blade: Trinity. They totally count as cardio.

As if you need more convincing, here’s Martha Wash and the IFC&C Music Factory to hammer the point home.